With the introduction of new 3D displays, there is an opportunity for 3D video to break through to the mass consumer market. Such 3D displays are able to handle both 3D display and 2D display. Various formats for 3D video exists today and most are based on single viewpoint stereo, whereby the user can see a scene in stereo from a single viewpoint. However, introducing 3D video does not only relate to introducing new displays capable of 3D display, but it also has impact on the whole content production and delivery chain. Firstly, the production of 3D video content is at an embryonic technology stage and various formats are proposed to be used each with their own advantages and disadvantages. With respect to content distribution, new coding methods were introduced for coding 3D content and new formats were proposed to include the 3D video stream in MPEG streams.
A known fact is that introduction of new formats is usually slow and a desired feature when introducing new format is backwards playback compatibility with the installed player base. A missing area has been the carriage of 3D video content in a content distribution or publishing format such as Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) or DVD and high definition format such as Blu-ray Disc (BD) or HD-DVD while maintaining backwards compatibility with the installed player base. Moreover, 3D displays are only able to creating a high quality 3D feeling in a few spatial regions, compared to the standard 2D image that can be view from all angular direction. Hence, depending either on the viewing conditions or on the number of users viewing the display simultaneously or on user preference, it may be desirable to be able to easily switch 2D and 3D content.